Former sports broadcaster 'Buddy' Blattner dies from lung cancer

ST. LOUIS — Robert "Buddy" Blattner, a former major league baseball player whose broadcast career spanned several decades, has died.

Blattner died Friday of complications from lung cancer at his home in the St. Louis suburb of Chesterfield, his daughter said. He was 89.

Blattner was born in St. Louis in 1920. He began his baseball career with the Cardinals in 1942, then missed the next three seasons while serving in the Navy. Blattner then played three seasons with the Giants and one with the Phillies.

As a broadcaster, he did play-by-play for national games on ABC in 1953 and 1954, and for CBS from 1955 through 1959.

He also did play-by-play stints for the Browns, Cardinals, Angels and Royals, and was the longtime voice of the NBA's St. Louis Hawks.